Electoral division of Casuarina

Australian electorate
Casuarina
Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Map
Interactive map of boundaries as of the 2024 election
TerritoryNorthern Territory
Created1974
MPKhoda Patel
PartyCountry Liberal Party
NamesakeCasuarina
Electors5,647 (2020)
Area12 km2 (4.6 sq mi)
DemographicUrban
Electorates around Casuarina:
Timor Sea Timor Sea Timor Sea
Timor Sea Casuarina Wanguri
Nightcliff Johnston Sanderson

Casuarina is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974 and was named after the adjacent suburb of Casuarina. Casuarina is an entirely urban electorate, covering only 12 km2 and taking in the suburbs of Brinkin, Nakara, Tiwi and part of Alawa, as well as the Charles Darwin University. There were 5,647 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2020.

History

For the first three decades of its existence, Casuarina, like most seats in the Darwin area, was a stronghold for the Country Liberal Party. Clare Martin did nearly manage to take the seat for the Labor Party upon the retirement of long-serving CLP member Nick Dondas in 1994, but lost out to the CLP's Peter Adamson, who held the seat for the next seven years. It was still widely presumed to be a safe Liberal seat in 2001, when it unexpectedly fell to Labor challenger Kon Vatskalis as part of Labor's sweep of the northern suburbs that year en route to winning government for the first time. Vatskalis easily retained the seat in 2005, 2008, and 2012. He resigned on 18 September 2014, which triggered a by-election.[1] It was won by Labor candidate Lauren Moss with a reduced margin. Moss picked up enough of a swing in 2016 to make Casuarina much more secure for Labor, and consolidated her hold on the seat in 2020; the CLP now needs a swing of 15.9 percent to win it.

Members for Casuarina

Member Party Term
  Nick Dondas Country Liberal 1974–1994
  Peter Adamson Country Liberal 1994–2001
  Kon Vatskalis Labor 2001–2014
  Lauren Moss Labor 2014–2024
Khoda Patel Country Liberal 2024–

Election results

Results as of 23:45 UTC, 24 August

2024 Northern Territory general election: Casuarina
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Country Liberal Khoda Patel 1,477 45.1 +23.5
Labor Lauren Moss 1,093 33.4 -18.6
Greens Res McCalman 368 11.2 +0.9
Independent Martin Jackson 335 10.2 +10.2
Total formal votes 3,273 97.0 −0.4
Informal votes 102 3.0 +0.4
Turnout 3,375 57.5
Two-party-preferred result
Country Liberal Khoda Patel 1,693 51.7 +18.2
Labor Lauren Moss 1,580 48.3 -18.2
Country Liberal gain from Labor Swing +18.2

References

  1. ^ Hind, Rick (30 July 2014). "Labor's Kon Vatskalis quits Northern Territory politics, by-election looms". ABC Local. Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  • Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission

12°22.4′S 130°52.9′E / 12.3733°S 130.8817°E / -12.3733; 130.8817